Frozen hearts either melt or shatter
by BirthdayGal
Summary: Aurora Thrúd is an exchange student from Durmstrang Institute. She comes to Hogwarts for a fresh start, but will find that you cant always run from your problems... Rated T for swearing and drinking.
1. The Arrival

Chapter 1- "The Arrival"

The first thing that struck Aurora Thrúd when she let go of her portkey and stumbled down the wet lawns of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, was the air. It was unexpectedly different from what she had anticipated. It was a rather chilly, damp air that bit her face in a somewhat unpleasant way. Naturally, the temperature here was significantly higher than back in the north- but the tugging sensation that the wet air created made it feel like it went the other way around. This didn't particularly _bother_ Aurora; she was simply surprised to see how much it differentiated from her imagination. She wondered what else would turn out to be different than how she envisioned it.

Still occupied in this thought, she felt a firm grip take hold of her arm and pull her up from the grass, where she, Aurora realised, had been lying for quite a while now. When she stood upright, with both of her feet steady on the ground again- she was met with the sight of a gigantic man looking down on her. "Hello there, had a good trip aye?" the man said, and Aurora, who quickly recovered from the shock of being greeted by such giant-like vision, managed a small nod. "My name is Rubeus Hagrid. I'm groundkeeper here- welcome to Hogwarts!" he said in a thick west county accent, his slightly terrifying appearance softening as he broke into a huge smile.

They proceeded to walk towards the castle together, Hagrid carrying Auroras trunk on his back. The giant chatted on about Hogwarts, while she took in the view of the magnificent building. It was huge, way bigger than Durmstrang, and the view of the many wuthering towers and grand windows was truly breath-taking. After only a few minutes, they arrived at the colossal wooden doors that marked the entrance to the castle. Hagrid opened them for her but didn't enter himself. "Aight then, this is it, I'll just drop yeh off here and someone will come meet yeh in a moment, don't worry bout yer bags- I'll take care of em. Good luck," he said and winked. She was just about to say 'thank you' when something, well- someone, hit her from behind.

The hug was so tight she could barely breathe, and when the attacker finally let go, Aurora sighed in relief. "Oh sorry, was that too tight? I read northerners greet like this, and personally I find it pretty brilliant, hugs are just so cosy, don't you think?" Aurora blinked, speechless. Northerners most definitely did NOT greet like this "Oh right, sorry, I should introduce myself," the attacker squeaked. "I'm Eleanor Hartford, but everyone calls me Nelly. I'm gonna take you to Dumbledore, he's the headmaster, but you probably knew that already. This is just so exiting, I've never met someone from Durmstrang before, but I bet we'll be the best of friends". The curly haired hug-attacker, who's name was apparently Eleanor, looked a little like an overly exited puppy who had been hit by a bouncing charm gone wrong, Aurora thought. "C'mon then," the attacker grabbed her hand and started walking her through the Hogwarts stairs and corridors, all while continuing a constant stream of talking at an impressive speed and volume. When they finally arrived at the statue marking the entrance to the headmaster's office, Auroras ears were ringing. "We're here!" hug-attacker exclaimed, and after she whispered something in the statues ear, the wall opened up to reveal another staircase. Aurora hurried inside, desperate to avoid another hug. "Hope you'll end up in Hufflepuff, that's my house!" was the last thing she heard before the wall closed itself again and the stairs started spiralling upwards.

The headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, was nothing like Auroras former principals. Instead of the menacing frowns usually sported by Durmstrang superiors, Dubledore wore a warm and kind expression on his face. The man was something of a legend back home, for his defeat of Gellert Grindewald. Aurora knew that logically, that should intimidate her- but the silver bearded wizards presence made her feel nothing but safe and welcome. In his office, listening to him explaining everything from schedules to Hogsmeade visits: she actually, for the first time since her arrival, felt sure that everything was going to work out.

"Just one more thing," Professor Dumbledore said, when the last piece of parchment was signed and Aurora thought she was finally done. He reached and took down a peculiar looking hat from a shelf she hadn't noticed before. After some brief confusion, she realised this must be the sorting-hat her cousin had told her about. At Hogwarts, your house wasn't decided by blood, but assigned to you by a magic hat, Aurora remembered. She had assumed she would just take her cousins place in Slytherin, but apparently the headmaster had other plans for her. "What does it do?" she asked. Professor Dumbledore just said "I believe you'll soon find that out ms. Thrúd" and dropped the hat on her head. For a moment she was surrounded by a still, silent darkness. Then she heard an odd sound, that somewhat resembled a yawn, and a voice filled the void. "Hmmm," it said "You're a Durmstrang, so the logical choice would of course be Slytherin, but then again you don't seem very logical do you, difficult this one, difficult indeed. Do you have any requests?" Was the hat talking to her? Yes, the hat was talking to her. A hat was talking to her?! Right, requests, "Erhhm, I don't know." She thought of what the hug-attacker Nelly something had said. "Just, ehm, don't put me in Hufflepuff. Thank you." "Well then," the hat said, "Lets go for a wild card, It'll have to be 'Gryffindor!' " Professor Dumbledore removed the hat from her head and gave her a hint of a smile, a slight twinkle in his eye gave her the impression that he knew something she didn't.

Thankfully, Hug-attacker was gone by the time Aurora got back down from the office, and she was instead escorted to the Gryffindor dorms by a 7th year girl named Leslie. They walked in silence, and relived she saw that the 6th years sleeping dorm was empty when she got there. When the girl had left, she was finally alone. After the long day she was completely exhausted, and practically collapsed onto her bed. She had never appreciated the pleasure of solitude as much as she did now. She closed her eyes and paper thin thoughts fluttered through her mind 'Solitude' 'alone' 'finally alone'. Then reality hit her 'Wait, I'm _alone_ , here, in Britain, a thousand miles away from home, and there is no turning back now, Fuck,' she thought, and then fell into a dreamless sleep...

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 **Authors note: Thank you so much for reading! If you liked the chapter please leave a review, and if you didn't like it please leave a review too because I'd love some feedback. Lots of love :))))) /V**

 **Edit: Haha I decided to completely change the main characters name. An Aurora is a natural light display in the Earth's sky that can be seen around the Arctic. Thrúd means power or streangth in old norse. X**


	2. Hogwarts Great Hall of Gossip

Chapter 2- "Judy's turn to cry"

Or

"Hogwarts Great Hall of Gossip"

Aurora woke up at dawn. Knowing she had no chance of going back to sleep, she quietly slipped out of bed and grabbed her bath things from the neatly placed trunk next to the bedside. She could hear the sounds of gentle snuffles coming out of the beds' closed curtains, as she made her way towards the bathroom at the other end of the dorm. "No, noo Katie I want the vanilla ice-cream. I don't, don't like chocolate", she froze for a moment but then chuckled silently at the muffled voice coming from the bed closest to her. With the dim morning-light guiding her, she finally found the metal doorknob leading into the bathroom, and carefully closed the wooden door. She stripped out of her clothes, that she in her exhaustion had forgotten to take of the night before. Pushing the little pile of fabric to the corner of the room and letting her hair out of the tight bun she had been wearing, she finally stepped into the shower. She could feel the hot water soaking every part of her skin, washing the dirt and anxiety she had been carrying with her away. The serenity and clearness of the water filled up her whole body and her muscles relaxed as the room got steamier. For a moment, all of her worries were gone. It felt like she never left home, like she was still at her snow-covered school in the mountains. In a moment she would hear her friends wake up in the room next door, she would laugh at the sound of Ingrid groaning when Sasha hit her in the head with her pillow. Then _she_ would groan as Freya banged on the door and shouted at her for taking up all the hot water. She smiled at this thought, but then she felt her throat clogging up as she remembered, none of it was real. She wasn't at Durmstrang, and even if she was she wouldn't have her friends, because all of them hated her now. They despised her.

She didn't know when she started crying, because the tears flushed down the drain with the streams of water. But when she turned the tap off and sat down, with her legs clenched tightly to her chest, her face was still wet. 'Fuck,' she thought. She wasn't supposed to cry, this was supposed to be her grand new start, she was supposed to be _happy_ again. With shaky hands, she took hold of her toilet bag, and rifled through it until she found what she was looking for- a loose cigarette. She lit it with her wand and told herself that when it was out, she would stop crying. She would allow herself one cigarettes worth of misery, and then she would pull herself back together. As she exhaled the smoke and watched it mix with the remaining steam in the room in a whirling dance, she felt a bit better. When she finally put it out, she wasn't crying anymore. She wasn't happy- she knew she probably wouldn't be for a while, but she was okay. She flushed down the cigarette butt in the toilet and when the last evidence of her breakdown had disappeared down the pipes she felt ready to face the world again. After she had brushed her teeth and covered up her red and blotchy face with some makeup, she took a deep breath and re-entered the sleeping-dorm…

….

(approximately twenty hours earlier)

The thing about Hogwarts was that words, supposed to be kept quiet, always managed to reach the ears of the entire student body within hours of them being spoken. It was a mystery exactly _how_ this happened, but it was a well known fact that it always did.

Considering this fact, it should not have been very surprising when the news of a certain exchange student's arrival leaked to the whole school, before she had even set foot in Britain.

When Kate Stonewell entered the great hall on what was supposed to be a very ordinary Sunday morning in September, and heard it buzzing like a bee-hive with gossip- she, as a matter of fact, did not show even the least bit of surprise. She was too used to these sort of happenings to even bother registering anything unusual. Or on second thought- she was probably to hung over to register anything at all. Her friend Michelle Pike, however, did not let such mundane things as a simple headache stop her from enjoying what was without a doubt her greatest pleasure in life, gossip that is. This was something Kate was painfully reminded of as she sat down to have her breakfast next to her friends at the Gryffindor table.

"Have you heard yet!?" Kate groaned at the sound of the blonde witch's exited voice, curls bouncing as she spoke.

"No Shelley, I haven't heard and I really, really don't want to. So can you pleaseee have mercy and let me eat my eggs in peace before I throw them up together with the half a bottle firewhiskey I drank yesterday." Shelley heard the desperation in her voice, and actually seemed to consider this for a moment, but in the end she just couldn't hold it in, and with a tad bit of guilt in her eyes, the gossip bursted out of her.

"I'm so sorry Kat but I just _have_ to tell you this, its first class news I promise. And I've already told the others so it really wouldn't be fair if you weren't informed" The only response she got from this was an eye roll. Unbothered, Shelley continued. "Okay then, here it is. Victoria Nott, you know that pretty blonde girl in Slytherin who called me a fat cow for three years straight. She _dropped out_ , in the middle of term!" " _This_ is first class news? I can think about a million other things more interesting than Victoria Nott." Kate said in an Irritated voice. "Oh, shut it. I haven't even gotten to the good part. Well, obviously everyone thought this was really weird because Victoria was really popular, and she was shagging that fit Ravenclaw bloke Andrew Matthews, so why would she quit right?" " _Well_ , as it turns out, Victoria has a cousin who goes to Durmstrang, and her parents wanted her to learn all that dark creepy pureblood stuff. So she _didn't_ actually drop out, she just switched schools to Durmstrang." Shelley looked at her with something that could easily be mistaken for a 'I'm gonna eat you whole right now'- look, but Kate knew she was just waiting for her reaction. "Well okay, ehm, good for her I guess" "Bloody bollocks Katie how do you not realise how major this is, Victoria Nott is an _exchange student at Durmstrang_ " "Yeah uh, I got that, but I really don't understand why this is so important to you Shells" "WELL IT'S PRETTY BLOODY OBVIOUS ISN'T IT" Shelly now stood up on the bench screaming at her, but as she saw Kate's frightened expression she calmed down a little "Honestly, you're so clueless sometimes that I genuinely wonder if your constantly under a confundus charm." Slowly, like she was explaining something to a small child, Shelley continued. "Victoria. is. an. exchange student. Which means that… she _is changing places_ with someone" It finally clicked in Kate's brain "ooohhh" "oohh, so what you're saying is…" "Yeah, _someone from Durmstrang_ is coming to Hogwarts. Absolutely major, I told you."

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 **Hi! It's been a while since chapter one, sorry about that. I'm planning to continue this story, and i have som spicyyy stuff ahead- next chapter will have Tonks action yay. Anyways, please review if you have the time and thank you so much for reading. Hugs!3**


	3. Hate on Liv day

.

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Chapter 3- "Number Thirteen"

Or

"Hate on Liv day"

All of Hogwarts toilet doors were sound proofed. Therefore, Aurora did not recognize that the previously still dorm had started to fill up with the distinguishable noises of teenagers reluctantly waking up and dragging themselves out of their beds. Coincidentally, the four girls responsible for these sounds did not notice that the northern witch was already up, and had no knowledge of the wet and snotty happenings next door. It actually took them a solid fifteen minutes until they realized that the bed, that had mysteriously turned up when they came back from dinner the night before- velvet curtains closed, was empty.

"Where do you think she is?" A dark-skinned girl with thick glasses said. "Maybe she's at breakfast already," another girl answered. "Yeah, that makes sense. If I were her I'd try to avoid the morning rush at all costs- I mean she's the talk of the school already, and nobody has even met her. She'll bee like an animal at the zoo, imagine trying to eat your toast with that many eyes on you. What a mare" a third girl, with flaming red hair said. "Exept for Nelly Hartford", a fourth, brown haired girl added. "What?" "Met her, I mean. I heard some Hufflepuffs talking about it in transfiguration yesterday, apparently she's the one who escorted her to Dumbledore" "Why? She's not even head girl," the girl with glasses, who had been quiet for a while now, said. "I don't know, I guess they wanted a Hufflepuff- hospitality and all that." "Hospitality" the red haired girl chuckled "Imagine getting off the portkey and the first person you meet is Nosy Nelly, I'm surprised she didn't run straight back to Durmstrang" "Oh don't say that Livvy" "What! I mean it's true isn't it?" "You can't go around saying mean things about people just because they're true! Nelly has never bothered you so why do you have to make fun of her" "Ugh, who cares about stupid Nelly. What I want to know is when we'll meet the new girl. She lives in our dorm, remember, so I expect she'll turn up pretty soon, I mean her stuff are still here and she'll have to get her books eventually" Just as she said this, the bathroom door creaked open and a fair skinned witch, with ice blonde hair and piercing blue eyes- appeared in their dorm, wrapped in a towel.

Aurora froze, as she was met with the four girls staring intensely at her with a wide variety of facial expressions. The blonde girl, who had a burning hot curling iron pointed dangerously close to auroras half covered body, finally broke the silence. "Hi there"" I'm Michelle" "We are your new roommates, this is Kate, Naomi and Liv" She said, and pointed at the three other girls in the room. She talked very loud and slow, like Aurora was an old lady who couldn't hear properly. "She can speak English you know; you don't have to talk like that" the brown haired girl (Kate) whispered loudly in her friends' ear. "Uhm, Hey. I'm Aurora" "Sorry, I, I didn't know you all were awake yet, or I wouldn't have taken so long in the shower" "Don't worry about it, these peasants use cleaning charms, works for most of the day but lemme tell you- by supper they'll smell like a bunch of ogres" The red haired girl interjected. "Liv" the girl called Naomi, said and gave her an angry glare "is just joking." "She has an awful sense of humour and I'm afraid you'll just have to suffer through it whilst you live here." "Anyways, it was very nice meeting you, but I'm heading down to breakfast now" She took a thick book under her arm and swiftly exited the room. An awkward silence followed. "Well, we better give you some privacy, come on girls- we'll go too" Kate grabbed Michelle's arm, dragging her towards the door, and Liv followed, "but my hair" Michelle whispered and looked longingly at the still warm curling iron. Kate took hold of her other arm "You'll live" she said and dragged her out. "Bye Aurora"" See you in class". And just like that the dorm was empty again.

….

At breakfast, the Gryffindor 6th year girls were bombarded with questions. It was everything from "How tall is she" too "Did she try to hex you?" and "Is it true that she killed someone back at Durmstrang". Shelley loved the attention of course, and practically glowed, having completely forgotten about the half curled hair. Naomi had fled to the library the moment she was done with her cereal, and Olivia planned on doing something similar. Since they had gone up so early there were still time to take a trip down to the Quidditch pitch. She happened to know that the Hufflepuff team practiced on Tuesday mornings and she thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do some spying. She sat down on the top altar with her little book of tactics in one hand and a quill in the other, ready to find out exacly how to crush them. The team were all standing in a ring at the left end of the pitch, discussing something. Liv noticed a girl she hadn't seen before, with electric blue hair tied up in a ponytail, leaning against the wall. It took her a while to figure out that the girl wasn't new at all, this was the chaser that had started last term, nr.13- Nymphadora Tonks. Only, she could swear she had a pink pixie cut just last week. The team lifted up in the air and Liv pulled out a pair of portable goggles she had been carrying in her back pocket. As the training game went on, she tried to concentrate on the plays and counter plays the team were practicing. But her eyes kept finding their way back to the blue haired girl flying graciously through the air. She was really, really pretty (not that Liv noticed). She had a soft, heart shaped face and her almond eyes were dark and twinkled like little stars. And her lips… Her lips looked cushiony and very kissable (not that she cared). Despite her efforts to do so, Olivia didn't really take her eyes of the girl for the remaining of the game, and when they were done- she hadn't written one word in the notebook. She waited until most of the team had gone in to the locker rooms, and then headed back to the castle, determined to put number thirteen out of her mind.

Her first class was divination, with Kate and Shelley. Olivia climbed through the door thirty seconds before class started, and took a seat by her friends at the back of the classroom. They were discussing the new girl, and Liv thankfully accepted the distraction. "Well she's not here so she is either taking muggle studies or ancient runes"" Probably runes, we'll ask Naomi later" "Well she's bound to take DADA so you'll see her there" Olivia added, sucking on a sugar quill she brought. "Yeah, I guess" "But what if she sits with the Slytherins, we didn't make a very good impression this morning"" She doesn't know anyone, and she's a Gryffindor, I think she'll sit with us" "Maybe you can ask Trelawny to sire it in her fishbowl" Olivia nodded at the teacher who as per usual was predicting someone's violent death. "Ha ha, very funny. Seriously, we have to make sure she likes us or otherwise it'll always be as awkward as this morning" "I vote for drinking games, we still have some of that firewhiskey left"" That's actually not a bad idea Liv, Katie can't drink though" "Why not?!" Liv and Shelley glanced meaningly at each other. "Honey, lets just keep you sober for a while okay, at least until were on speaking terms with this girl" They were interrupted by a black haired ravenclaw "Hi Olivia" she said, " I saw you guys were three and we're supposed to pair up for palm reading, so I was just wondering if you wanted to be with me" "Oh, emh""Actually Kate here" Liv took a firm grip of Kates shoulders "Twisted both of her wrists this morning when she was practicing her handstands, so I'm afraid I'll have to stay here and help Shelley with ehm, the palm reading and all that. I'm really sorry, maybe next time" The girl looked sceptical, but when Kate- who had gotten the hint said "they're crushed, completely, you can't really see it but Madam Pomfrey told me I needed all the assistance I can get or they might just fall off", She just turned around and went back to her friends looking disappointed. "Handstands, really? That's the worst lie I've heard from you in months- and that's saying something. I hope you know this means you'll have to carry my books for the rest of the week right, since my wrists are so hurt" Kate said when the girl was out of ears reach. "Poor girl, who is she anyways? She was making eyes at you this morning too I think" Shelley said. "Emmaline Hopkirk, we hung out last weekend when you were down in Hogsmeade" Liv answered. "Hung out?" "Okay maybe we did a little more than hanging out, but it was a no strings attached kind of deal if you know what I mean". "Well are you sure Emmaline was in on that deal, because she looks like she ordered a frog but got a toad in the mail" "I assumed she got it. It wasn't like we were on a date or anything, it was _casual_." "Casual huh? It seems like you've been doing a lot of that lately. Last Thursday it was that 7th year Rebecca girl who you were casual with, oh no sorry _that_ was Tuesday. Thursday was the blonde Hufflepuff, and the week before that it was Patricia Atkins- who actually is a really nice girl, but wont talk to me anymore because I'm friends with you. Reckon why?"

"Since when is this hate on Liv day? Can't you go back to whatever we were talking about before and leave me alone, I'ts not like you guys are saints anyways so you have no right to judge" "I'm sorry Livvy, we didn't mean to judge, we're just worried about you that's all- Right Shelley?" "Right, but seriously Liv- can't you at least make up with your 7th year exes. Otherwise we won't get invited to any of the cool parties and I won't ever get a shot with Charlie. " (Charlie Weasly had been Shelleys crush since their third year, and she was convinced she was one day going to marry him and have five of his ginger babies.) "You don't have to worry, okay, I'm fine. I like it this way." Liv turned to Shelley "And I promise I'll get you stupid Weasel even if it's the last thing I do, because you, my darling- need to loosen up!"

Olivia had been properly distracted by her friends, and when class ended she didn't have a worry in the world. That's when Trelawny with a firm grip of her shoulders turned her around and told her "Thirteen, thirteen is what you should be looking for"

Damn it.

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 **Authors note:**

 **Tonks? Weasly? Gay stuff!? What is happening! Welll that's for me to know and you to guess hahahahah. Thank you for reading, I hoped you liked it bc I really liked writing it. You're an angel if you leave a review and more stuff is coming soon hopefully.**

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 **V**


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